Creative Exploration in Words and Pictures

Menu

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #60: Framing the Shot

This week, Amy invites us to explore framing, which is at the very heart of photography. It’s the little voice that pops into our heads when we peer through the viewfinder and identify the subject. It asks us: “Why are you taking this shot?” “What is it that you want to show your viewer?”

Framing is a technique that helps us lead the viewer’s eye towards our subject. Framing can also reveal the details in the scene, and/or give an image depth by highlighting the foreground and background.

Frames can include shooting through foliage, through windows, arches, or doors, and down corridors or tunnels. In my collection this week, I’m highlighting shots which use different frames to “draw” the viewer into the scene. Which ones do you think are the most effective?

A Corridor

This “long” shot down a corridor in Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin frames the image, and highlights the miserable conditions of prisoners during the Irish Rebellion. I was also hoping that viewers would be curious about this place and want to know more.

In Jail, Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin

A Doorway

The Palácio de Queluz outside Lisbon was modeled after the Palace of Versailles. It functioned as a summer home for Portuguese royalty. This shot through a series of doorways highlights the massive size of the palace and its opulence and draws the viewers’ attention through the doors to a series of rooms.

Framing the Palace, Sintra, Portugal

Fences and Trees

This shot draws the viewer’s eyes down the road to a covered bridge. The trees and fence provide natural frames in the shot and help guide the viewer’s eyes to the main focus of the image–the covered bridge.

Country Lane Bridge, Pine Island, NJ

Architectural Frames

Sometimes architecture can frame a shot. In this last image, I used the Sydney Harbor Bridge to frame the image and provide depth and context. I also cropped the image on the left so that the bridge was the main focus in the background and the tourists in the foreground.

Framing Sydney Harbor Bridge, Sydney Australia

Amy’s challenge has made me more aware of the photographic frames I’ve used in the past. It also reminds me of the importance of framing every time I take a shot. If framing is done correctly, it should make the viewer curious about the subject. Curiosity, in fact, is an important goal because it makes the image linger in the viewer’s mind and encourages the viewer to take a second and third look.

We hope you join Amy’s photo “conversation” on Framing the Shot this week. Please stop by Amy’s site to view her beautiful “framing” shots. Remember to link your post to Amy’s and tag it Lens-Artists to help us find it in the WP Reader.

Next week, it’s Tina’s turn to lead the challenge, so be sure to visit her blog for her next “shot” of creative inspiration. As always, Amy, Tina, Ann-Christine, and I thank you for your support of our challenge!

Hi, E/E! I’m so glad you like “the bridge.” It is a very inviting spot in rural NJ…believe it or not! Poor NJ. So many people think it’s ugly and industrial, but there is great beauty there too. Thanks for your thoughts!

These are terrific Patti, as is your description of framing and its importance. I really loved the first image which definitely leads us into the structure and makes us curious about the prisoners who were sent there and why. Well done as always.

Aw…thank you so much, Tina! I was really “haunted” by the Gaol. What a sad place filled with pain and misery. It permeated the place. The Gaol intrigued me because of its place in Irish history/the Uprising. Well worth a visit.

I really appreciate your framing “lessons” – and agree about the curiosity factor. The first photo with the doorway at the end does pull my eye – and my interest – to what may lie beyond. I also think that, when framed in just a certain way, a photo can tell a story all on its own. Cropping can help (or hinder!) that process. Your photos are so well lit too. 🙂

So true, Oneletter…I totally agree with your point about framing and cropping. It’s so tricky to crop just the right amount. I’m still working on that. I also agree with your point about “telling a story.” I think all good shots do that. I really appreciate your thoughts!

I am really enjoying the responses to this challenge. It is so interesting from a photography point of view and I feel I have much to learn. I shall take a stab at this challenge I think Thank you for inspiring me with your wonderful photos.

A great post, Patti, and all amazing frames and shots. It is hard to pick favorites, but the first one from the gaol in Dublin, and the doorway in Lisbon also gives me that gorgeous feeling when light falls on the floor. And I so agree that it feels good having to think about how we really do to frame our shots – it is easy to just forget about thinking and do things automatically.

Thank you so much, AC. It’s hard to pick a favorite among yours, too! I think being more deliberate about our “frames” is helpful. This challenge really shows us how many frames there are! I love seeing examples from other people’s work.

Hi, Judy. Thanks so much for stopping by. I appreciate your thoughtful comment. It’s so true about the doorways. It harkens back to fairy tales when Alice is opening all those doors! It’s very much like a fairytale.

Hi Patti. Love how you weave in words of photographic wisdom through your post. I find cropping effectively can really enhance an image and delete distracting factors for the viewer. The bridge scene really speaks of leading lines that beautiful frame and lead the eye to the subject. I usually don’t like hydro lines in a photo and try to avoid them like the plague, but they really do work here. 🙂

I’m LQys concened about taking a photo with strangers in it.
I don’t want to upset anyone. I’m glad you were able to get that photo.
It’s my favotire, Patty. It’s a very natural looking photograph.
Isadora 😎